Aspects of Who We Are; Beliefs

What are the aspects of who we are?

Taking responsibility for ourselves requires getting to know who we are. For example, even those who are quite sure of their positions regarding various aspects of their lives, will, when faced with an extreme challenge to live what he/she says are his/her firm stands on major aspects of life, will cave in to the established system of beliefs. There are, of course, exceptions.

This is particularly evident in issues of health, when faced with life or death challenges. Unfortunately, others, who have conflicting beliefs in this regard, will take it upon themselves to coerce, or force you to give up those intentions, as has been demonstrated in Florida, and elsewhere.

Unless we have taken control of our lives, what we have been programed to believe, controls who we are, and what we will do, when "push comes to shove."

The vast majority of what we believe, we have been indoctrinated/programmed to believe, as I stated earlier. We literally live and die according to those beliefs. Therefore, in order to begin to take responsibly for our own lives, we must discover what we believe.

For myself, examining what I believed, (was indoctrinated/programmed to believe) took a long time and effort, because, as stated, we do not know what we believe. Only when our beliefs are challenged in some way, do many fundamental beliefs make themselves obvious. We can tell how strongly held a particular belief is by how emotional we become over what is a challenge to a belief.

Starting a Journal, in which you can write down anything that has brought up strong feelings, is a good way to begin to examine one's beliefs.

Without beginning to examine what you believe, when you start out, determined to take responsibility for yourself, you will only base your actions on your indoctrinated/programmed beliefs.

Many people, over my lifetime, have done more and more to take control of certain aspects of their lives. A good example of this is becoming more physically fit; people are working out, running, learning various martial arts, etc., etc, than say 30 years ago. Similarly, there were comparatively few who regulated what they ate, other than periodically "dieting" and going off the diet, 30 years ago, than who do so currently.

These are a couple of ways that more and more people are, indeed, taking responsibility for themselves, and in my view are to be commended for their efforts. If these same people have gone to the effort of examining various ways the body can be made stronger and more flexible, and have built their own personal programs, all the better. Those who have taken responsibility for their own bodies in the area of eating, who have investigated the various theories of diets, and tried to determine what is actually factual about them, are rare. One cannot blame anyone in this regard, as the various theories are "legion."

As indicated, the problem with physically working out in one specific way or another, or what diet is followed, is that it is usually based on a belief system. Again, in the physical-activity realm, this is changing, as is evidenced by those involved in "cross training."

Everything has a belief system! That means that all aspects of any system are interconnected and mutually supporting; most are made up, in whole or in part, of other related belief systems, which have been built up over time.

Once you begin to look at what you believe, and why you believe it, you will find that other beliefs are feeding into that examined belief, etc., etc.

To start out, you can try to stop taking what you hear, read, have been taught, what you have been told are "facts," at face value. In other words, question everything! Big job!

Our indoctrinated beliefs, which we have accepted as, "truth," "facts," "reality," etc., etc., control our lives and how we behave in our relationships, and with everyone else with whom we interact. For most people, along with habits, they control what we do, or do not do, every minute of every day.

This is the end of today's Ruminations.

Shirley Gallup